


Abandoned

by skidblast



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Aphasia, Disability, Gen, Imprisonment, Original Character(s), Penal Colony, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-19
Updated: 2016-09-19
Packaged: 2018-08-16 02:52:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8083873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skidblast/pseuds/skidblast
Summary: It's an OC origin story.Actual summary in notes.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After being abandoned after a bombing run, Surveyor is taken by the Decepticons to be interrogated. Only for them to realize that being in the line of fire did a number of him, including inability to understand and make himself understood.
> 
> So along with other Autobot prisoners, he was put on work on one of the numerous warmworlds in making.

Surveyor noticed that something was off. Rations were smaller today. He looked over to Crest, his helper, with a slight alarmed expression. Crest nodded in confirmation and showed Surveyor his own rations. They were the same. With a motion of his hand he also seemed to indicate everyone else, that they were also receiving less than usual.

Surveyor, a bit frightened at what this could mean just sat down next to Crest. It was a stupid nickname he had over him. He didn't even know Crest's real name. He didn't know anyone on the planet, slave labor on some unknown warmworld somewhere in the universe. They had been at it for nearly thousand years now. An op had gone wrong, leaving Surveyor at the site of bombing he had given the coordinates to. Recovered first by the Decepticons, he had soon learned that something had broken in his brain module. Whatever the others said it came out as gibberish. Even speaking hand came out as non-sense. And he had soon learned that he couldn't make himself understood, or understand any writing. He was isolated when in company of around hundreds of other Autobots and a quarter of that number of Decepticons who made sure that they were doing the menial work.

And now something was changing. Energon was being rationed. No new Decepticons or Autobot slaves had been brought in for the last few years even though it was routine. Surveyor liked routine. That meant things were going okay, even for the situation that he was in. It had begun with him being assigned to Crest, doing the same work as Crest was doing which was mainly hauling stuff back and forth and pick up the trash for recycling.

After few days, still on less Energon than they should be, another thing upset the routine. There was less work. The Autobots were slacking and the Decepticons were not discouraging them. Shifts ended an hour earlier, or even few hours earlier. Surveyor didn't like it but he didn't show it.

There was then an assembly. The one Surveyor figured that was in charge of the whole operation, some Decepticon that looked like a monoformer, addressed the whole group while Decepticons were surrounding the Autobots with weapons. Surveyor didn't understand any of it but he saw Crest looking a bit upset. Everyone looked upset. Then another Decepticon, holding a datapad, yelled out something. Surveyor could deduce that it were names, as by each call Autobots stepped forwards, led to some another part of the facility.

And then the leader said something more, then departed. Crest immediately turned and headed to the exit. Surveyor followed, lost and confused, only for Crest to turn around and strike him hard in the arm. Surveyor knew what that meant. "Leave me alone". Surveyor took a look around, seeing no one going to work, nor did he see any of those who had been presumably called up by the Decepticons. So he carefully turned towards the barracks and to his berth. He opened his locker and took out a deck of cards he had made himself, shuffled them and laid them face down. It was a simple memory game, find the pairs. He wasn't sure just how extensive his brain module damage was so he did anything to help stafe off the boredom and try to keep his mind working. It was probably not that damaged he needed a simple game like that but it was one of the few things he could do that didn't require talking or reading.

After few games Surveyor gave up, then simply went to recharge. He got jostled after few hours, seeing Crest come in and look at Surveyor, looking mighty sorry for what he did. That's what he always did after asking for some time alone. But he just went to his berth and sat down on it, staring to the entrance. He said something, coming out as the same verbal nonsense as Surveyor was now used to. He was sad, he sounded hopeless. Something had happened that had been in the making for couple of years now and now everything was happening. But Surveyor was left in the dark.

There were few more days of work, but Surveyor noticed that there was just no morale anymore. No one was talking while at work. The Decepticons were however in a chipper mood. And now Surveyor and Crest were doing something more than cleaning duty. Now they were hauling some of the good equipment to the space dock. Several Decepticons and some Autobots, those who had been called Surveyor noticed, were working on the ships, doing checks and maintenance. And the equipment went into the cargo holds of the ships. Crest didn't look interested at all, it was likely he already knew what was going on.

Surveyor knew what was up. They were leaving. He had known for a while that this warmworld was not really up to snuff. Not enough of good resources on the planet, there was also the deal with tectonic activity that was on the planet that caused earthquakes. And now the Decepticons were scrubbing the whole thing off and leaving.

And ships left. There were less and less of equipment to move. The space dock became rather empty of space-worthy ships. Surveyor managed to identify the last one. Some Autobots had already been moved away from the planet in some of the ships, presumably those with good skills that would be useful wherever they would be transferred to.

Few days later, there was the riot. The Decepticons were apparently leaving, all of them. The last ship was filled with supplies and the remaining equipment, and the Decepticons were boarding holding large weapons. Surveyor didn't join in the riot. He didn't really know what he could do in this situation. The meaningless yelling was though deafening, but were eventually drowned out by the ship's engines turning on and the ship taking off into space.

Crest was still there, but Surveyor knew that this wouldn't be a good time to follow him like some lost turbofox kit. This felt like one of the times that he would get more than just a punch in the arm.


	2. Chapter 2

After Crest left Surveyor had, among few others, to tend to those that the Decepticons had shot when they had left. There were no more Decepticons around, all they left were space ships that were not even space worthy or had been gutted for spare parts. Barely any working equipment was left.

Surveyor didn't know how to maintain an engine, even less so how to build it. So tending to the injured was something he could do. No one was going to push him away for crimping lines and staunt bleeding even though basically any Autobot had some basic trauma skills. Some tried to talk to him even though everyone on the base knew about him and his inability to communicate with anyone. He guessed it was just because they thought it would make things comfortable between them or that Surveyor would appreciate having some attention from others. Both were correct in any case. He felt normal, part of the group even though he didn't understand anything.

Things were calming down, those who had been too injured could only be made comfortable as they faced the dying light but Surveyor and the others had managed to stabilize the rest of the injured. Surveyor looked around and saw nothing more for him to do so he turned around to leave. But before he got to the exit of the makeshift hospital he heard some yelling. Turning around he saw one of the other response workers, with far more knowledge than Surveyor at least, waving his hand and indicating to Surveyor to come. Hesitantly and a bit unsure, especially with Crest not around, Surveyor headed back. The "nearly-medic" just smiled and took out an energon cube. Surveyor extended his hand towards the cube, only to be met by a smile and what sounded like something encouraging from the mech. He accepted it and finished it in one gulp. At least that took care for his energon needs for today. But he wasn't sure how it would be in the future.

Surveyor went over to the barracks in search for Crest, figuring that he wouldn't be in as much foul mood as he had been in when the Decepticons had left. But Crest was nowhere to be seen. Surveyor checked his box however out of the few games there, there was nothing that really enticed him at the moment. But there was another thing he could do, another game he could play. A quick look around the barracks telling him that Crest was still probably sulking around, Surveyor left. Heading for the Administrative offices.

He wasn't the only one there. There were several Autobots there, some in teams and some individuals doing their thing. There were basically two different groups. One that was looking for any energon or personal belongings that the Decepticons left behind, and some that were looking through some records. Surveyor stood by as he listened to one of the record-seeking group, quickly identifying a jetformer with clipped wings as the apparent leader of the search, talking to most of the others as they were looking through the offices.

That was enough for Surveyor. He headed away from the offices and down. The planet was still rich with silica dust that got everywhere. He knew that some Autobots got to clean up the offices. He had gotten the chance to do that with Crest couple of times but he suspected that the Decepticons saw that he was paying a bit too much attention to his surroundings, causing him and Crest to be demoted to garbage duties.

It had been a long time ago but he knew what he had seen. He looked at the floors, seeking to identify where the cleaning stopped and where heavy traffic began. He followed that one down the next floor, heading into the basement of the building. There he kept watch on where the traffic was still and where he shouldn't be bother looking, where the Decepticons didn't frequently go. A look through some of the rooms, it was at the third room that he saw what he was looking for. Stacks of datapads. He turned one on, noticing that it still had a decent charge. There was some ordering system in place for this, but he couldn't read it. He couldn't read what was on the datapads either. Surveyor took few of the datapads, one from each section and turned them on. Some of them spat out a locked screen at first, which was one of the things he could still identify, but most of them were open, readily displaying some information. Taking most of the datapads he had turned on, and couple of the locked ones, Surveyor made his way back up to the offices.

This time his arrival didn't go unnoticed. It wasn't hard to notice someone holding a handful of datapads. The jet commander narrowed his eyes and with a quick indication of his head he beckoned Surveyor to enter. Surveyor, smiling slightly, put the datapads down. The jet looked at the pads, throwing some away right away but putting others to the side. Another one came over and looked at the datapads put aside. They spoke to each other in low tones as they inspected the datapads and what was on them. Surveyor backed away slightly but the jet quickly looked up at the movement and motioned Surveyor to stay. He did. 

He noticed when the topic shifted to him. There were gestures in his general direction, the tone shifting as the topic of the datapads was finished and they went to another topic. Then the jet looked up at Surveyor and said something to him. The other was quick to interject but the jet was quick to hush him. Then he handed Surveyor one of the datapads and pointed towards the door. Surveyor just nodded and headed out. As the jet followed, whom Surveyor began calling "Clip", Surveyor knew he had thought correctly. Clip wanted Surveyor to show him where he found those datapads. As they entered the basement the third one said something which Clip answered with a simple one-word reply. Surveyor then came to the room and opened it for Clip, who entered it with the others.

Clip looked at the storage, picking up several of the datapads that happened to be locked. Surveyor figured that it was in some section that Clip was interested in. Instead of putting them back he put them aside, presumably to get someone to hack them. After a while he turned to Surveyor and said something, smiling and putting his hand on Surveyor's shoulder. Surveyor smiled back, taking it as a praise. The other looked at Surveyor more in surprise than anything else and spoke to Clip. Clip answered and they exchanged a bit more words.

Clip handed Surveyor some of the pads, and the other one some more, before taking his share and let the two up to the offices again. He passed another Autobot and spoke to him in short authorative tone. Whatever he said it was enough for the Autobot to go directly to the exit of the building. Passing another Autobot, he spoke to him in a bit more softer tone, but still something to convey authority. The other smiled and left. As they came to the offices the second Autobot came back with four cubes of energon.

Surveyor waited for Clip to confirm that one of the cubes was for him before taking it. Well, it looked like that he had done something good now. As Clip didn't down his cube in seconds, Surveyor followed his lead and had slow sips as well.

Then the first Autobot Clip had ordered to came to the offices, with Crest following.

They exchanged words. Crest seemed flustered and embarrassed while Clip was speaking calmly and asking mostly questions. Crest's answers were mostly negative sounding. Surveyor would have been a fool not to realize they were talking about him. Then Clip stood up and took one of the pads. Not from the storage in the basement but some other pad. He quickly drew few symbols on it and then handed it over to Surveyor.

And it were only symbols. Simplified versions of the various subgroups and agencies within the Autobot ranks. But on top of the group of icons was a crude approximation of Surveyor's face.

Thankfully Surveyor's injury didn't make him badge-blind or unable to understand imagery. He figured that Clip was asking what sub-group Surveyor belonged to.

And Surveyor circled the only one that applied. Autobot Intelligence. He handed it back to Clip who had seen what Surveyor had marked, but he looked at it anyway to confirm it.

He didn't look at happy though. He was probably well aware of the problem. What use was an intel-bot if he couldn't understand anyone or even read? And when stuck on a planet and desperate to find a way off it, intelligence agent was even much less of a use. But Clip then smiled, patted Surveyor on the back and encouraged him to take another sip of the energon.


	3. Chapter 3

Weeks went by. Months. The initial joy in having no longer have to work for for the Decepticons had long gone by. Clip had managed to be put in the position of leading the Autobots in the former labor camp. Surveyor still didn't know if it was his charisma or if he had managed to bully to his leader status.

But there was another bigger problem. Surveyor noticed, and was sure he was the last one to know, that there weren't enough ships to get everyone off planet. Only about twenty to forty or so would be able to leave, based on the ships that were being repaired. The radio wasn't working either and despite efforts nothing was happening on that front. The fate of close to five hundred Autobots rested in less than tenth of that number, and that was if they got any ship off planet and to Autobot space.

Over half of the Autobots had volunteered for stasis. What was needed now were mech that could work on either the radio or on the ship, and even all the equipment had been moved. Energon processing was a small operation that produced little but needed few to work on. With careful rationing they weren't going to face any energon shortage in a while.

Surveyor along with handful of others were spared the deep sleep. Surveyor didn't really know why. Clip seemed to take some liking to him, most likely thinking that Surveyor was more useful than he was or thinking that he was higher up in the Autobot Intel pole than he actually was. Surveyor couldn't communicate the opposite to Clip, and he was feeling a bit guilty to be taking a spot of someone who probably deserved it more.

There weren't any other sources of intel that Surveyor was aware of. There was nothing else that he could really help with. He didn't know engineering or how to set up an interstellar communication device. All he could do was to watch the others and wait for either Autobots or Decepticons to come to this planet.

He didn't like the fact that he was waiting.

Crest had also become a bit more distant. He still helped Surveyor when there were changes being made and Surveyor had no way to know about them. But with the Decepticons gone Crest seemed to be away for more times than before. Surveyor had suspected this would happen. Crest hadn't exactly volunteered to be working with Surveyor, but the Decepticons had apparently saddled him with the duty to do so, to make Surveyor useful for them while he couldn't even understand orders.

Surveyor didn't blame him. Not even when he was giving him the cold shoulder as they were scouring one of the bandoned buildings for something useful. Energon, spare parts, intel, anything. It went slow. Everything went slow. Surveyor had the feeling that the Decepticons had left the Autobots for dead instead of wasting precious resources to make sure that they were dead.

Not halfway through with going through the building Surveyor heard Crest yelling. It wasn't an alarm or anything but, and Surveyor figured it was just Crest calling for Surveyor. He headed towards Crest, who was standing near the doors looking slightly annoyed, then motioned Surveyor to follow him. Surveyor frowned, pointing towards the back trying to tell him he wasn't done but Crest just shook his head and pointed out, then pointed at his audio receptor. He had gotten some message, they were to return for some reason.

Surveyor sighed as he walked out. Neither had the energy to be really transforming even though the mode locks had been taken off them. With how the rationing went, they got enough for the job they were to do, nothing more. Crest spoke calmly to someone else through the short-range comms as they walked, until the comms squealed in some protest. Crest looked up at the sky.

Surveyor followed his gaze, seeing why they had been called off the search for resources. An ion storm was coming in. It was dangerous to be out in such a weather, one other reason for why this warmworld had been abandoned. Crest looked around, looking nervous, then pointed towards the nearest building in the distance. Where the Autobots were keeping the sleepers. Surveyor mulled over it. It was the closest building that was properly shielded against the weather. The building they had come from was closer, but wasn't shielded, having been still in construction while the Decepticons were working in it.

Surveyor nodded and but he and Crest broke into a sprint as they sought to be in there before the storm would hit.

It was still calm weather when they got in but they closed the doors properly behind them. Surveyor, knowing that the building was picked clean, went to one of the nearby windows and looked out. He heard Crest scoff behind him but he didn't care. Crest probably thought that Surveyor couldn't pick up gestures and mannerisms like that scoff. Not many did. At least Clip seemed to be on the opposite spectrum, thinking that Surveyor could pick up far more than he actually could.

Looking out the window, Surveyor saw how the weather progressed from being calm to a violent and dangerous storm that could last days. He didn't know, so he relied on Crest. A glance back showed Crest just sitting up against the wall, looking bored. There was nothing in the building but sleepers. It had already been picked clean long time ago, making sure that no one had to go there for something that didn't need to be stored among the sleepers.

Soon enough watching the electrical currents of the storm was boring as well, but it was the only thing that was there other than bare walls. Surveyor went away from the window and sat down near Crest. But not close to him. Crest seemed to be content to enter light recharge when waiting out the storm. Surveyor wasn't. He never liked these kind of storms. Things could go wrong and Surveyor wanted to be alert in case they did.

Few hours passed, with no signs of the storm passing anytime soon. Crest had entered recharge some time ago and Surveyor could only either watch the storm or be sitting down and do nothing.

So when he heard some ruckus he wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not. Had there be anyone else in the building Crest would have already gone to them to help combat the boredom of being in here, at least anyone that wasn't in stasis at the moment. Surveyor looked at the hallway that led deeper into the building, and then he heard some voices.

Surveyor went over to Crest, shaking him awake. Crest jerked awake, immediately looking to the window only to see the storm raging on. He glared at Surveyor, angry and took his hand that had touched him, gripping Surveyor in a strong hold. He said something, then harshly let the arm go. Surveyor pointed towards the hall, shushed and pointed again. Crest looked towards it, waited few seconds but with no sound coming he just glared at Surveyor again and pushed him away with a kick and few harsh-sounding words before lying down for recharge.

Surveyor waited in silence, looking down the hall while nursing his slightly sore arm. He heard some more noises and looked at Crest, who didn't seem to notice and seemed to be back in recharge. With no help from him Surveyor headed down the hall, into the mausoleum.

It was dark. Surveyor could see somewhat but didn't really want to engage his lights for energon conservation. The building was kept at as lower power as possible anyway. He heard the sound again and walked towards it, into one of the chambers with the sleepers.

Instead of turning on his lights he took up the multi-tool he had and shone the light of it on the sleepers. They wouldn't wake up by that. He looked at each of them, trying to figure out whom of them was causing the noise. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Surveyor swept the light across the room for a last check so he could file the noise under hallucinations because of boredom.

He wasn't sure what just caught his eye at one particular slab but he decided it was better to satisfy the curiosity instead of going back up to Crest. It was when he approached the slab that he saw what had gotten his attention.

The frame on it was gunmetal gray, unlike anyone else resting. He shone the light across the body, trying to find a reason for it. But there was one thing he knew that was generally associated with gray frames. He knew how to check if someone was dead, and he did that. Small simple check on the optics and where he could see the interior of the chest.

Dead.

Surveyor let out a nervous giggle when he realized what he was looking at. With no reason to hold him back now he checked the body over, turning over limbs until he saw what he was looking for. A hole in the neck at the main energon line. An another quick check revealed that the body had been drained of energon.

Surveyor, biting his finger while supressing another nervous laugh backed off, then shone his light at the other bodies in the room. He found two other gray frames. But instead of checking if they were truly dead he turned around and headed out of the mausoleum, now really living up to its name.

Out of the mausoleum, Surveyor practically ran up the stairs. Damn Crest he had to show him. He had to show him that someone was killing the sleepers. He was sure no one would really approve of that, not even Clip. He had seen the stores of energon they had and it wasn't that low that they needed to bleed others for fuel.

As he was halfway up the staircase he heard yelling behind him. Alarmed, he swung around with his multitool light but before he could see who had been shouting he felt a sharp sting on his side as something metallic and heavy pierced his side. Then he felt the pull on the hook or whatever that had impaled him. It was firmly stuck in him that with the pull it didn't come out but Surveyor was yanked towards the pull and thus towards his assailant, tumbling down the stairs and losing his multitool in the process.

He screamed. It was wordless panicked scream of pain and terror as he felt strong hands on his body, fists driven into him while he couldn't see who it was that was attacking him because it was too dark. And with few pounds on his face, his visor cracked, turning the low-level sight into complete darkness.

Surveyor was now screaming for help. He knew whatever he said was being turned into gibberish. But he had to hope that it would be loud enough for Crest to hear, to rouse him of the recharge. He screamed as if his plating was being torn instead of just fists pounding him, he yelled as if his limbs were being pulled off instead of his chevrons being bent and pulled.

But the scream of pain was genuine as the hook was being pulled out of him, every teeth of it resisting the pull and snagging several internal components in the process, stubbornly trying to stay inside Surveyor.

It felt even worse when the hook was finally freed from Surveyor, hurried pede-steps going deeper into the building while shouts from Crest were coming from above. Surveyor tried to answer but his voice stumbled on the fact that it was trying to do something on purpose now. Surveyor just held his hands by the gaping wound, supressing a chuckle of sheer panic and terror. Crest now ran down the stairs, kneeling down next to Surveyor, looking him over for only a moment before tending to the open wound at his side.

All Surveyor could think of was that the attacker or even attackers could be back.

Crest said something, panicked and afraid. A jumbled form of light entered Surveyor's field of view as Crest took up the fallen multitool and pushed it into Surveyor's hands. Surveyor shook a bit while Crest continued speaking. Crest guided the hand so it would shine over the wound. Surveyor kept it hovering over it even though he felt pain when Crest was closing it off and trying to prevent Surveyor from bleeding out. Surveyor lifted the tool up to shine it down the hallway, only to have Crest cursing and using his energon-stained hands to push the light back.

It took Surveyor a moment to realize that Crest wasn't trying to talk to Surveyor. The inflection of tone and the pauses he was making in his talking indicated that he was on the comms, hopefully being talked through on how to patch Surveyor's wound. Surveyor again lifted his light to shine it down the hallway. Crest again pushed it down so he could see what he was doing. But now he spoke in lower tones and Surveyor could feel that Crest was now frightened. At least he understood now.

The next time Surveyor lifted the light Crest looked behind himself, both of them staring down an empty hallway.


	4. Chapter 4

The aftermath had been surprisingly smooth and Surveyor had almost missed it. Help had arrived, with a bit of a delay due to the storm. The wounds were given something more than basic first aid. And while Surveyor had been trying to figure out how tell the others what he had seen, apparently those who had searched for the attacker had found the bodies, and the attacker.

No one even took a second glance at Surveyor. It was a bit of a relief as that meant he was not suspected of killing and draining the others. He saw both the bodies and the attacker being led outside. The attacker was someone he didn't know, medium sized frame that had carried some sort of grapping hook. One of the few things the Decepticons left that could be repurposed into a weapon.

And still, Surveyor was not put in stasis with the rest of the sleepers, even though it was safe to do so despite his wounds, even though it was costing a great deal of energon to keep him stable with limited resources and tools.

It took a while for him to recover fully. And in all that time he didn't really bother trying to communicate with everyone. He had been attacked by an Autobot, he had been alone when attacked, unable to really alarm anyone else to his plight. Help had arrived, he had survived, he made it through with permanent injury but there was just something that made him just want that the next time he woke up from recharge it would be waking up from stasis, on Autobot grounds.

He knew what the problem was. Legally there was no way for anyone to get consent from him. He couldn't understand neither spoken or written words. But he figured it was just some sort of excuse for the others, he was sure that some had been pressurized into going into stasis so that argument was moot.

Somehow despite staying in the berth all day Surveyor was too exhausted to go out and do something. He didn't feel well and Crest and others had noticed. But he brushed them off, only wanting to stay unconscious and lost to the world as long as possible.

Then things changed. Cheerful peppy voices filled the barracks, there were smiles, laughter. At least more than usual. Surveyor let himself slip into reality as he listened to the nonsense that others were saying. Something had changed. He roused himself up, tested his joints to make sure they were functioning, and then went out.

There was nothing new to be seen. Whatever that had happened it wasn't a ship that had come to rescue them. The most likely thing was that communications were finally up. Surveyor headed into the administrative building and where he knew where the comm room was. And sure enough Clip was there, talking on the comms to someone whose voice Surveyor had not heard before. One of the bots in the room noticed Surveyor and let Clip know, who turned around for a moment before he turned back and resumed his conversation.

It felt like a big enough confirmation. They were most likely talking to Autobots and were hopefully arranging some way to get back home.

It came only three days later and it was surprisingly disappointing.

Surveyor had been outside at that time, having finally decided to at least appear functional instead of moping around. A small ship, barely enough to house two dozen autobots comfortably landed in the space port. It looked like that its arrival was very much anticipated as the guards were already at the gates, preventing pushy Autobots from coming in when they didn't have any real business to. Surveyor just picked a place where he could look over the space port, looking at the Autobots disembarking the ship. They were too far away to make out any notable features or to identify them. Once they were inside, presumably talking to Clip, Surveyor went back into the barracks.

But only few minutes later he heard some announcement on the intercom system. It was short and precise. Surveyor didn't move from his berth, just laying on his front while staring at the wall in front of him. Few minutes later he heard someone rushing in, so he turned to see Crest coming up to his berth. Without even as much as a greeting, he urged Surveyor to get up. Surveyor stood up from the berth, confused but didn't get any attempts at explanation from Crest as he took Surveyor's hand and led him outside.

Crest led Surveyor straight to the space port. Compared to going through the crowd, going past the guard was easy, only few words needed for the two of them to get inside. Another one, someone that was often with Clip, was right inside the space port. He came up to them, greeted them and then led the two of them further inside.

And soon enough Surveyor and Crest were led into a small conference room. Clip was there with couple of others, and then the visitors.

There was no doubt about which ones were the Autobot rescuers. Their plating was in a better shape despite recent dents and cuts from a battle. They looked well kept compared to the others, the plating with a luster and the bio-lights with a bright sheen, both indicators of them having plenty of energon to have.

And Surveyor noticed the hook one of them had instead of a hand. He backed away in alarm before he could even register the sharp jolt of fear. The newcomers didn't fail to notice that, but Clip spoke calmly, seemingly explaining it to them. Surveyor was more ashamed for still being afraid because of the attack. He and Crest were offered seats at the table, which they both took.

Clip and the newcomers continued talking while Surveyor studied them. They were clearly fighters, arrived in a small ship. He figured they had been simply called because they were nearby, especally given how soon they arrived. The one with the hook seemed to want to be somewhere else than here, while the other, a mostly green triple changer, seemed to be a bit more open and spoke in softer tones. And he occasionally looked at Surveyor with slight curiosity.

Later on Crest joined in on the conversation, speaking when it was clear he was being asked something, and sometimes interjecting into the conversation.

Then the conversation seemed to come to its conclusion, everyone at the table standing up and heading out. Clip and Crest spoke between each other as they followed the newcomers back to where they had landed their ship, with occasional glances at Surveyor who followed only because he felt like whatever role he had wasn't finished just yet. When they came to the ship the one with the hook barked out some orders to others waiting by the entrance of the ship. They went inside, only to come back only minutes later with some guns and energon.

Clip and the triple changer talked a bit while waiting for the new supplies to be delivered and hauled away to where they would be then distributed. And then Surveyor saw what they were given in return. Several datapads, which Surveyor had no doubt that came from the storage room he found. Intel, though it was very possible it was outdated already. But there was always a certain value to outdated intel which Surveyor could appreciate.

And then the triple-changer shouted something, and Crest pushed a bit on Surveyor's back. Surveyor knew that one, he was to pay attention now. He looked at the triple-changer, seeing him motion to Surveyor to come on board. Surveyor, not quite sure about it, looked at Clip who just nodded and said something to him before pointing towards the ship. And Crest pushed him on the back, trying to make him walk forwards.

Surveyor took few hesitant steps, looking at the triple-changer and Clip who returned his questioning look with encouragment. Surveyor finally convinced himself that, yes, he was finally leaving. He turned around to face Crest.

And Crest was where he had been, with rather impassive face. Surveyor's optimism and newfound relief quickly vanished when he realized what was going on. It was only him that was going to leave, not Crest. He looked at Clip, but he didn't seem to understand what was going on, only pointing back towards the ship.

Surveyor didn't know what to do. He literally didn't have the words he wanted to say to Crest. And from what it looked like, it was only he that was getting a ride home. That wasn't fair. It was so far from fair. Clip probably thought he was some super spy or something that got in a bad situation instead of a data analyst clerk who was occasionally called into the field because of his alt-mode's ability to traverse unforgiving terrain.

He couldn't protest, he couldn't negociate. He couldn't do anything but either run away or to follow in and go away from this planet.

Guilt wracked him as he turned back around towards the ship and headed inside it.


End file.
